Episode 1. Why is Everyone So Tired?
As each month slips by, it seems that we become more and more tired – emotionally, physically and spiritually. It’s true isn’t it? Why are we all so tired? So exhausted? I don’t know if …
As each month slips by, it seems that we become more and more tired – emotionally, physically and spiritually. It’s true isn’t it? Why are we all so tired? So exhausted?
I don’t know if you’ve noticed but some people seem so tired – exhausted. As though there’s a plague quietly creeping over humanity. Now I’m sure this varies somewhat from country to country and from culture to culture. I’m sure that there are some people somewhere living idyllic life, you know plenty of rest, relaxation but to tell you the honest truth most of us don’t know any.
People seem to be working harder, competing more, clamouring more to buy the things and have the things that we’re told that we should buy and have. Some people are struggling just to survive, just to get enough food on the table, many in fact. Others are drowning in debt.
Yet others still aspire to a career and then discover that this thing they idolised, this career has in fact turned them into indentured slaves. Long hours, long commute, the traffic, the train and you know, you don’t have to be working like a mad man to be tired.
There are many people who don’t work, people who are lonely who are tired. See I think that tiredness comes not just from working too hard. It comes from carrying around heavy burdens. And so that’s why I’m asking, why is it that everyone is so tired? What’s going on here? What can we, you and I, do about it?
That’s what we’re going to be looking at over the coming few weeks on the program – exhaustion and tiredness.
And just in case you should think that this is something new. Just in case that you should think that this plague of tiredness and exhaustion is something that’s exclusively related to the excesses of western materialism. Have a listen to this, this is Jesus 2000 years ago. You can read it in Matthew’s Gospel chapter 11, verses 28 to 30. Jesus said:
Come to me all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble of heart and you’ll find rest for your soul. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
So these weren’t people burnt out by an industrial age that He was talking to. We’re pretty much talking rural agrarian subsistence economy here back in the 1st century land of Israel. So carrying heavy burdens is nothing new. I mean we all carry heavy burdens from time to time.
It’s funny that the Greek mythology came up with Atlas. You’ve seen this picture of this man stooped over carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. And I guess that’s how many people feel. These heavy burdens that Jesus was talking about, these heavy burdens come in so many different shapes and sizes. I’ve carried a few of them around in my day and I’m sure that you have too.
Sometimes we’re just plain working too hard and we need a rest. Or there are pressures at work and maybe pressures at home and it feels like we’re living in a pressure cooker. And my hunch is that that’s not how we’re meant to live.
Sometimes it’s relationships, a particular person who is hurting us or who’s betrayed us or who’s ignoring us or who’s fighting with us or who’s trying to squeeze us into some mould into which we don’t fit. Sometimes it’s because we’re trying to do things or to be things we were never meant to do or be.
I remember when I started out as a consultant in the IT industry many years ago. I used to think that I had to pretend to my clients that I could do everything. I can tell you that’s a pretty stressful way of living. Sometimes the burdens about our self-esteem or self-worth. We compare ourselves with other people and we come up with a conclusion that we just don’t match up.
Or others have expectations of us, we have expectations of ourselves that, well, we’re just struggling to meet. Or sometimes it’s money problems, ‘I’ve lost my job, I don’t have a job’. And for many people listening today they can’t even put food on their table for their kids. Those are real burdens. Sometimes it’s loneliness, like a padded prison cell where we scream and no-one can hear us.
Do you see how this list goes on and on? And you know, sometimes it’s just this sense that something’s not quite right, something’s wrong, we just can’t put our finger on it. Other times we know what’s causing our stress, we know what’s causing our tiredness because we’re running away from God, we know that we’re rebelling.
And as much as we try and convince ourselves that we can do it our way, it’s so exhausting pulling in the opposite direction to God. Exhaustion, tiredness, man sometimes we need a rest, a holiday, a day off, a break away from the grind.
But can I tell you something? I’ve had holidays in the past where I didn’t get any rest either because while you can perhaps get away from work or even home and the day-to-day routine, many of those burdens and pressures I’ve been talking about just don’t go away because you’re on holidays, do they? You can be sitting on a sandy beach with waves rolling in and yet still carrying the heavy burden of a failing marriage or financial debt or the fear of what’s going to happen when you get back to work.
Here’s the thing, burdens come in many different shapes and sizes, they do, and over the coming weeks on the program we’re going to look at a lot of these different burdens – the things that we carry around, the weight of the world on our shoulders. The things that, try as we may, we can’t seem to put down even though we want to rest, even though we want to get rid of them out of our lives.
That’s the thing, so often these burdens are so hard to get away from and to put down and to rest from and I’ve come to the conclusion as a self reliant individual as I am, I just can’t do that on my own. Here’s the thing, I believe, I truly believe with every fibre of my being that God wants to give us rest. I believe that God hears the cries of His people and that He has the answers.
Do you remember when God’s chosen people, the nation of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, they were in slavery in captivity in Egypt? Do you remember what God said to Moses? Exodus chapter 3, verses 7 and 8:
The Lord said, ‘I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry on account of their task masters. Indeed I know their sufferings and I’ve come down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
See we so often dig ourselves into a hole. So often we’re living out consequences of our own rebellion against God. So often we look at life and kick ourselves and think, ‘Oh man, if only I hadn’t, you know, whatever it is’. And that sense of regret makes things worse.
And sometimes we’re just carrying burdens that aren’t our fault. Being oppressed by other people or by circumstances completely out of our control. Well here’s the thing, I believe that God wants to set us free. I believe that God wants to give us rest and peace and well-being. In fact I don’t just believe it, I know it because Jesus said:
Come to me all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble of heart and you will find rest for you souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Now, it’s really easy to read that and think, ‘Well, you know, that must be for someone else. That must be for those super spiritual people. Maybe it’s for that guy on the radio who’s talking right now. But it can’t possibly, can’t possibly be for me.’ Listen again to what Jesus said:
Come to me all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest.
There is no qualification, it is for everybody. It is for anybody and everybody who is weary and carrying heavy burdens. And that, that’s what we’re going to be exploring together over these coming weeks on the program. God’s rest – because He means it for my life and He means it for yours.
Comments
Jennifer bate
Hi again Bernie. Sorry about my last email. The auto speller on my iPhone seems to have other ideas. I hope you can make sense of it anyway. Thanks, Jennifer x
Stella
Wow! This is definitely coming at the right time. Thank God for bringing this up, we all need this reminder. keep up the good work.
Shirley
Thank you Reminds me of this song. “Lord make me an instrument of Your Peace”
Let’s. All embrace rest, And enjoy this Amazing Peace.
Debbie
Very good and timely article. Much food for thought. Thank you.
Penny Gee
Brian you are right. It seems that in an effort to make a difference, I grow more tired all the time.I belong to a Monastery and a local church. I sing in a church choir and in an outside chorus. I am on the Worship Committee of my church and I started a scarf making mission 7 years ago. Two years ago with 3 scarf projects we made 99 scarves. Last year for the same 3 projects we made 346 scarves.I write and have been published in religious magazines for feee. I am an over achiever and feel that unless I do alot I am not a worthy person.
CHRISTINE MCNAMARA
Thanks Bernie – You are amazing – Yes I am so grateful for being reminded of this – This morning I have taken time out to rest in the Lord – listening not only to my body but food for the soul.
Thank You as I looked at my emails – your wise words were such a confirmation
God Bless
Hollie Letts
Thank you Bernie for your guidance- This world we live in is exhausting.
As Christians, have you ever noticed how the ten commandments that we hear most often are the ones we have the hardest time fulfilling. We all have to deal with people who try our patience or rub us the wrong way. Then there’s the pull of the world, urging us towards a self-centred approach to life. This is where the tiredness comes from. From your talks and at our church, God has shown me and my husband how to feel less stressed and more time learning how to live as God want me to live. That is to say we are still learning. Living differently from the world has helped us a lot. We are not in debt yet we do not own a house, we both have a job and still have time for our children. We are involved in our church and other ministries. That is where we believe God has blessed us. We have received lots of blessings. Like Jesus we should seek to serve instead of being served (Matthew 20:16) Jesus also asks us to take the lowest place at the banquet. (Luke 14:9. God is LOVE let him love you and you’ll find yourself loving other people more and more. This is so different to how the world tell us to live which seems to involve being stressed tired and exhausted, from trying to keep up with people we believe have it all.
Grasiano
Rightful message indeed fir me as I am feeling tired now. Relying on God’s word is sure answer to the challenges I am facing and many thanks Bernie for this message.
Angeline
Just what I needed to hear.
Last night I read some very strong views and judgements about mental illness being a myth and it’s treatment and accusations that felt so cruel and unfair. But what I read was a ‘sugar coated’ voice that was hiding a nasty tongue underneath.
I was lost for words. Overnight I was carrying a burden and words that were said publicly by someone I know quite well that are totally against what I do in charity work for beyond blue. I realised from listening to Berni this morning, and more importantly, listened to be reminded about what St Paul was telling us 2000 yrs ago. Jesus wants to lighten our burdens. I can’t do it on my own. But to sit and rest and listen for those few minutes today just answered my worries. Yes Jesus is my answer and through the Holy Spirit. I have another speaking event tonight but in my heart I know the Holy Spirit will guide me in the words I am to say to offer hope and help to others through him.
Jumoke Lambert
Your obsrvations are so true!Maybe these “burdens”
some call problems or issues.I welcome
a rest from my burdens.So please count me in.